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Julia Davis, M.S. is an Investigative Journalist, a featured expert with the Atlantic Council’s Disinformation Portal. Julia created and operates the Russian Media Monitor, analyzing Russian state media in a broader context of the Kremlin’s propaganda tactics, with focus on the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare and foreign policy. Julia's reports have been featured by the Washington Post, the Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, CNN, MSNBC and other media outlets.

Former FBI Agent from San Diego, Edward Preciado-Nuño, brutally murdered a 31year-old mother of four, Kimberly Ann Long, by beating her to death with a claw hammer. Most defendants in similar scenarios would be denied bail, languishing in prison until their trial date. Incredibly, Preciado-Nuño is awaiting trial from the comfort of his home, having posted a low $250,000.00 dollar bond.

Edward Preciado-Nuño is a brother of Oscar Preciado – former Port Director for the San Ysidro Port of Entry (the largest and busiest land border crossing in the United States). Oscar Preciado still works at the same Port of Entry as a Special Project Manager for the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

After Edward Preciado-Nuño murdered Kimberly Long, Oscar Preciado traveled to Las Vegas in a show of support for his brother. Both of them were born in Tijuana, Mexico and moved to San Diego as children when their family immigrated to the United States.

The possibility of Preciado-Nuño utilizing his brother’s direct access to the US/Mexico border did not stop the court from releasing the accused murderer from house arrest, allowing him to travel to San Diego on two occasions – once for almost one month, “to get his house and affairs in order” and more recently, in April of 2010 to attend his daughter’s wedding. This incredible leniency is especially unusual in light of the gruesome nature of the charges against him for murder with a deadly weapon.

Preciado-Nuño’s trial was originally scheduled for July 28, 2009, but has been delayed three times. According to the court documents, the latest delay was caused by Preciado’s inability to get along with his own attorney. The court granted his Motion to Substitute Counsel on April 28, 2010 and admonished Preciado-Nuño to get along with his new counsel, as any further delay of the trial may send him straight to prison.

The events in this bizarre and bloody case started in November of 2008, when Edward Preciado-Nuño traveled to Las Vegas from San Diego at the behest of his son, Jeffrey Preciado. He wanted to evict the mother of his child, Kimberly Ann Long, while retaining sole custody of their 10-month-old baby. The police report states that father and son plotted to confront and covertly videotape and audiotape Kimberly, in hopes that she would say something incriminating. This “evidence” would then be used to portray her as a bad mother in a child custody dispute.

Authorities said that Kimberly Long and Jeffrey Preciado have gotten into a fight several days before her murder. Police were called to the house during the incident but didn't take either one of them into custody, which seems to suggest that their confrontation was not violent. Jeffrey Preciado testified in his father’s case that several days after his fight with Kimberly, he went to a local police station to make a report against her. He said that together with his father they were planning to evict his girlfriend from the house and to gain custody of their infant son. He hoped that making a police report would help support their claims against Kimberly.

Utilizing his FBI background, Edward Preciado-Nuño began videotaping the residence. Father and son set up a camera at the garage of the home. On November 13, 2008, Edward Preciado-Nuño confronted Kimberly in the garage of the residence as she returned home from work. Shortly thereafter, he called his son, claiming that she was attacking him with a hammer. It is simply mind-boggling why Preciado-Nuño would call his son and not the police if he was in fact being attacked.

Even if the unlikely scenario of being attacked by Kimberly was true, Edward Preciado-Nuño (a seasoned ex-FBI agent and a former Marine who served in Vietnam), would have been able to easily overpower and disarm a 100-pound woman. In the alternative, he could have left the garage and called the police. Instead, he beat her to death with a claw hammer. A medical examiner testified that Kimberly Ann Long had at least a dozen wounds to her head. She also had defense wounds to her hands and arms, including a fractured forearm. There were six injuries to the back of her head. These injuries create a mental picture of Kimberly cowering, trying to cover her head with her arms and turning her back to the killer in an attempt to get away, while Preciado was beating her with the claw-side of a claw hammer.

It is also hard to imagine that Kimberly, who had just arrived home from work, would have a hammer in her hand. Most importantly, father and son set up the cameras specifically to film confrontations with Kimberly. According to the publicly available information, Jeffrey Preciado left the residence in advance, since his father planned to confront his girlfriend. At the same time, cameras set up to record such exchanges were conspicuously not turned on. The combination of these factors brings disturbing questions as to the premeditation in this scenario.

During the first bail hearing in this case, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Abbi Silver said she "smelled a rat" when she looked over the paperwork. "There are some really weird facts in this case," Silver said. "It doesn't make sense though, the facts as I read them, especially with a retired FBI agent, to turn out like this."

Long's 9-year-old son and the couple's 10-month-old son were at home when their mother was murdered. It is unclear whether either child witnessed the grisly scene. When officers arrived to the residence at about 6:30 a.m., Kimberly Long was lying motionless on the garage floor in a pool of her blood. Edward Preciado-Nuño was kneeling next to Kimberly’s lifeless body. Blood was splattered on the wall and ceiling of the garage, two bloody claw hammers laying nearby.

Even after the slaying, Edward Preciado-Nuño did not express any remorse about what he had done. When police interviewed him about the murder, he referred to Kimberly as a “pig” and called her “lazy”, said Las Vegas police homicide detective Tod Williams. Edward Preciado-Nuño told police that Kimberly Long "pissed [him] off" and admitted that he had been taunting her, Williams said. Preciado-Nuño told police: "She hit me with a hammer so I hit her back."

Kimberly’s close friend, Francesca Velgos, didn't believe Preciado-Nuño’s claim that Long attacked him. She said that Kimberly, a 31-year-old mother of four, was a non-confrontational, peaceful person. Kimberly’s disposition and physical strength does not match Preciado-Nuño’s claim that she attacked him with a hammer. "She couldn't even open a jar of pickles," Velgos said. "She was a weakling."

Clark County prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci argued that Edward Preciado-Nuño should be held without bail on the charges of murder with a deadly weapon, especially in light of his comment to the police that he can "fly off the handle." Prosecution’s arguments have fallen on deaf ears and Preciado-Nuño was granted bail.

Clark County District Attorney’s Office stated it is their policy not to issue comments in pending criminal cases. Media requests have been granted and the cameras will be allowed in the courtroom during the trial that is now set to commence on December 6, 2010 at 1:30 PM.

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Julia Davis, M.S. is an American writer, producer in the film and television industry, member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Women In Film and the Screen Actors Guild. Julia is a Russian Media analyst. She specializes in exposing Russian propaganda tactics, with focus on the Kremlin’s hybrid warfare and foreign policy. Julia is a featured expert with the Atlantic Council’s Disinformation Portal – an interactive online portal and guide to the Kremlin’s information war.
Julia created and operates the Russian Media Monitor, analyzing Russian state media in broader context of the Kremlin’s information warfare.